Hyler pleads not guilty in construction site slaying

Christopher Ray Hyler, 47, was arrested and charged with first degree murder Thursday.

By Chris Olwell / The News Herald

Published: Tuesday, June 25, 2013 at 04:39 PM.

PANAMA
CITY
— The man accused of gunning down his landlord in a church construction office in 2010 pleaded not guilty Monday to a count of first-degree murder.

Christopher Ray Hyler, 47, was
ind
icted by a grand jury in May and arrested on a warrant for the Aug. 10, 2010 shooting death of Robert Ellison in the construction office of
First
Baptist
Church
in
Panama
City
Beach
. None of the dozens of people working on the site at the time hear or saw anything suspicious.

Hyler was arrested at a property Ellison owned, and had lived in another of Ellison’s properties in the past. Police believe others might be involved in Ellison’s death though no one else has been arrested.

Panama City
Beach
Police Chief Drew Whitman said police believe they know what motivated the slaying, but he declined to say what that motive might be because releasing it would compromise the ongoing investigation.

“They’re still working a few other avenues, a few leads,” Whitman said.

Investigators have worked the case for almost three years have questioned more than 100 people. They followed some dead-end leads and didn’t identify Hyler as a suspect initially, but the arrest on May 2 was the result of “old-fashioned police work,” Whitman said.

Hyler spent about 18
mont
hs in prison for attempted burglary and was released in April of 2009. After he was arrested, police said, Hyler made numerous statements implicating himself in the killing.
Po
lice have recovered physical evidence in the course of the investigation, but not the gun used in the shooting.

PANAMA CITY — The man accused of gunning down his landlord in a church construction office in 2010 pleaded not guilty Monday to a count of first-degree murder.

Christopher Ray Hyler, 47, was indicted by a grand jury in May and arrested on a warrant for the Aug. 10, 2010 shooting death of Robert Ellison in the construction office of FirstBaptistChurch in Panama CityBeach. None of the dozens of people working on the site at the time hear or saw anything suspicious.

Hyler was arrested at a property Ellison owned, and had lived in another of Ellison’s properties in the past. Police believe others might be involved in Ellison’s death though no one else has been arrested.

Panama CityBeach Police Chief Drew Whitman said police believe they know what motivated the slaying, but he declined to say what that motive might be because releasing it would compromise the ongoing investigation.

“They’re still working a few other avenues, a few leads,” Whitman said.

Investigators have worked the case for almost three years have questioned more than 100 people. They followed some dead-end leads and didn’t identify Hyler as a suspect initially, but the arrest on May 2 was the result of “old-fashioned police work,” Whitman said.

Hyler spent about 18 months in prison for attempted burglary and was released in April of 2009. After he was arrested, police said, Hyler made numerous statements implicating himself in the killing. Police have recovered physical evidence in the course of the investigation, but not the gun used in the shooting.

Hyler has been in the BayCountyJail without a bond since his arrest. His next scheduled court appearance is Aug. 8.